Medvedev cruises into 4th round; Halep wins

MELBOURNE: World number two Daniil Medvedev swept aside Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and stay on track for a second successive Grand Slam title.

Van de Zandschulp, ranked 57th in the world, was the only player to take a set off the Russian when the pair met in their previous meeting at last year's US Open, which Medvedev went on to win for his first major title.

Medvedev, the highest-ranked player remaining in the men's draw due to the absence of Serb Novak Djokovic, made it look easy on Saturday, breaking his opponent's serve four times in the match to win under two hours at the Margaret Court Arena.

Alize Cornet celebrated her 32nd birthday by staging a stunning comeback to reach the second week at the Australian Open on Saturday -- 13 years after the Frenchwoman last made the fourth round at the Melbourne Park major.

The former world number 11 fought back from a set and a double-break down to beat 29th-seeded Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 43 minutes at Margaret Court Arena.

Cornet, who has slipped to 61st in the rankings and has said the 2022 season could be her last on Tour, said she was moved after the crowd sang 'Happy Birthday' to her.

Playing in her 60th consecutive major, Cornet lost the opening set and found herself trailing 4-1 in the second but dug deep to win 11 of the last 13 games for the victory.

Poland's former French Open champion Iga Swiatek dominated from the baseline to roll over Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-2 6-3 to storm into the fourth round.

The 23rd-ranked Kasatkina, a former top-10 player, won the pair's only previous meeting in 2021 but that match was played on grass.

Seventh-seeded Swiatek, who won the claycourt Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2020, hit 24 winners and broke Kasatkina's serve twice in each set to cruise through the contest at Margaret Court Arena in one hour and 34 minutes.

The 20-year-old will next meet either another Russian in 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or 38th-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania for a place in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

Stefanos Tsitsipas staved off the incendiary Benoit Paire to reach the fourth round with a tough 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4 win but appeared not to realise the game was over after converting match point.

Paire dunked a forehand into the net on the first of three match points when serving to stay in the match, but fourth seed Tsitsipas walked to the back of the court rather than approach the net.

The Greek turned around at the baseline with a look of surprise on his face, before walking forward to acknowledge Paire.

Having held Paire at bay at Rod Laver Arena, the Greek crumbled in the third set tiebreak to let the Frenchman back into the match.

Paire kept in touch to 4-4 in the fourth set before conceding the match points with a double-fault.

Tsitsipas will meet American Taylor Fritz for a place in the quarter-finals.

Simona Halep continued her rampaging start to the season with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Montenegrin trailblazer Danka Kovinic to reach the last 16.

The 14th seeded Romanian fired up on a baking hot day at John Cain Arena to completely overpower Kovinic, who had dumped US Open champion Emma Raducanu out in her previous match, becoming her nation's first player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

After missing Wimbledon and the French Open in an injury-plagued 2021, Halep is now back to peak fitness and has notched eight straight wins, including a warm-up title in Melbourne.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka showed her fighting qualities again on Saturday as the Belarusian came back from a set down to defeat Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and move into the fourth round.

Sabalenka surrendered the opening set for the third match in a row, overcoming early serving issues to pummel the Czech into submission.

Former semifinalist Elise Mertens of Belgium advanced to the last-16 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Zhang Shuai of China.

With Saturday's victory over Montenegrin Kovinic, Halep bettered her season's record to 8-0 and her record in the third round of Grand Slams to 21-3. The Romanian has won all six sets she's played at the Australian Open so far and has only lost 12 games. Agencies

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